Bristol's Cabot Circus bucking crunch trend

Bristol city's £500 million shopping centre is bucking the trend in terms of attracting customers, according to the latest research.

Bosses at Cabot Circus said they saw even more shoppers coming through their doors last month at a time when other centres are struggling.

Data from the BDO Stoy Hayward High Street Sales Tracker revealed that trading conditions got worse in May across the country.

The falls of 1.5 per cent nationally came in the wake of a better than expected March and April for the hard-pressed sector.

Simon Girling, a partner at BDO Stoy Hayward in Bristol, said: "Given the current economic environment, even a 1.5 per cent fall is a relatively strong performance and indicates that consumer spending is still holding up surprisingly well.

"Retailers are clearly still finding life on the high street especially tough – particularly as concerns about unemployment continue.

"There are highlights though, as Cabot Circus has shown. Strong products, coupled with the weather have meant that many retailers are continuing to outperform the poor expectations assumed at the start of the year.

"Although we still believe demand may fall back again in the coming months and would caution against calling the bottom of the market, these results offer some encouragement for the remainder of 2009."

Richard Belt, the manager at Cabot Circus, said: "May has been a positive month for Cabot Circus – during the last week in May we achieved the highest footfall so far this year. Indeed, footfall was very strong around both bank holidays, with visitor numbers up by over 30 per cent.

"The warmer weather, coupled with the appealing outdoor environment that Cabot Circus offers, has certainly encouraged more shoppers. However conditions are still very tough for the retail sector and we are working closely with our retailers to support them through these challenging times."

The news came as it was claimed that up to 35,000 shops could close this year. Retail research firm Experian have projected the number of closures expected this year based on their surveys of British town centres.

Charlie Mayfield, chairman of John Lewis, said: "Retail employs more people than any other private sector business in the UK. So it matters a lot for jobs and it's not just any jobs because actually retail offers jobs for people who want to be creative, people who want to work in distribution, someone who wants to work part-time. You know, retail can offer a huge range of jobs. So it's actually vital to the economy."

Sir Stuart Rose, executive chairman of Marks and Spencer, said: "Since Christmas it hasn't got any worse and I think in the current environment not having got any worse is probably a win. But it is too early to say green shoots. We are all very conscious as retailers. Let's see how the rest of the year pans out."

Justin King, chief executive of Sainsbury's, said: "I think what we are seeing is getting over the worst of the shock of entering a recession. It is not as bad as we feared but I don't think you can start to say it's green shoots just yet. We are certainly not seeing growth returning in total to retail markets."